Yours Toothfully by Dr Chan Joon Yee

You spent the whole night gambling with friends. Your wife asks you where you’ve been. You’re afraid she’ll find out about your gambling. What do you tell her? That you spent the night at a coffeeshop at Geylang?

Goodness. If Ris Low is bimbotic, then her apologists who tried to explain her widely publicised interview as an episode of bipolar disorder must be totally braindead. Every idiot knows that if your English is not up to standard, you can go for remedial classes (if you’re studying still) and make more ang moh boy … I mean… friends to improve yourself.

To claim that you can actually speak “perfect English” at another time and place and to explain that embarrassing episode as an attack of bipolar disorder is downright foolish. Do these folks know what that means? Bipolar disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis.

Bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) causes serious shifts in mood, energy, thinking, and behavior–from the highs of mania on one extreme, to the lows of depression on the other. More than just a fleeting good or bad mood, the cycles of bipolar disorder last for days, weeks, or months. And unlike ordinary mood swings, the mood changes of bipolar disorder are so intense that they interfere with your ability to function.

During a manic episode, a person might impulsively quit a job, charge up huge amounts on credit cards, or feel rested after sleeping two hours. During a depressive episode, the same person might be too tired to get out of bed and full of self-loathing and hopelessness over being unemployed and in debt.

I guess it would be all right to claim mental illness if you’ve killed someone, but claiming mental illness for stealing credit cards and performing poorly at an interview? Hasn’t there been enough stupidity surrounding this saga? Please! Miss Ris Low has suffered enough from all that bad publicity (though I think she hadn’t been adequately punished for lingerie shopping with patients’ credit cards). These equally bimbotic supporters shouldn’t try to “help” her by sticking that bipolar disorder label on her.

SMRT has always been sparing no effort in promoting gracious behaviour. Let others get out before you get in. Give up your seat to someone who needs it more (so we don’t have to provide more seats). Move away from the doors (we don’t care if you’re alighting soon, just let us pack as many people as we can).

And to get their message across this time, they’ve employed Gurmit Singh, the funny man who tickled local viewers from Channel 5 to Channel 8 with iconic characters like Phua Chu Kang. And if we look at the comments on YouTube, we realise that many people enjoyed this educational video.

“Don’t pray pray, let me out first”.

Huh? A foreigner may ask what on earth that means. Sure, Phua Chu Kang is funny and meaningful in front of a local audience. What about foreigners? Well, I saw an ang moh lady carrying a backpack dancing to the beat, but that’s not really the point. This is not part of the Arts Festival. There is a serious message behind Phua Chu Kang’s performance. If that message doesn’t get across, money would have been wasted.

This video has been played many times over in the MRT stations since it was first launched. Has it or will it ever make MRT users more gracious and considerate? To answer that question, we must first look at the people who need to be educated most.

The other day, as I was trying to get into the train at Dhoby Ghaut, a woman who was entering the train and talking loudly into her mobile phone suddenly made a U-turn at the door and walked out, pushing against the flow of boarding passengers. She was trying to catch a glimpse of the number of the station (NE6) to inform the person she was talking to.

Phu Chu Kang didn’t tell us not to do that. In fact, he didn’t even sing/rap in a language that this woman can understand. I think before we even try to produce a video that serves any educational purpose, we must first find out the language spoken by the majority of those who don’t behave in a considerate manner.

Do we have the appropriate talent for an effective educational video that targets the rapidly growing segment of our population that needs to be educated on considerate behaviour? You bet.